2011 Archiveshttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/table/2011-articles/june/
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 03:03:27 +0000Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Managementen-gbSmall Fish: June 14th New and Noteshttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/small-fish-june-14th-new-and-notes.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/small-fish-june-14th-new-and-notes.htmlAfter the Red Sox finished off the Marlins on Wednesday with a 10-2 victory their really is not much in the way of good news around Miami. The team is coming off one of the worst home stands of its history the team is now 3-9 in the month of June. While still ahead of last years' pace the team has fallen from tied to first in the NL East to fourth place and 7 games behind the Washington Nationals. Still their are some small bits of news around the team.

After Wednesday's loss the Marlins sent Chris Coghlan back down to Triple-A New Orleans and called Scott Cousins back up the Majors. Since being called back uo in late May Coghlan hit just .153 in 59 at bats with one home run, 8 RBI (all in May) and 7 strikeouts. Cousins a solid defensive center fielder has hit .292 in Triple-A with 7 home runs, but he does strike out quite a bit (48 times in 50 games this year).

Also after the loss yesterday, one of the biggest stories was the back and forth yelling between Ozzie Guillen and Heath Bell. It started because with 2 outs in the 9th of a blow out loss Ozzie pulled Heath Bell out of the game even though Bell wanted to finish the inning. Ozzie says the only reason why he pulled him was because it was a meaningless inning and he did not want to over work him in case he needed to be used Friday night (Bell was at 19 pitches). Things seem to be fine now as Bell said he "understand where Ozzie was coming from. I apologized and I don't mean any disrespect."

A poll done by Men's Journal involving 100 major league players has named Ozzie Guillen the least respected manager and Giancarlo Stanton the player in the best shape.

Ozzie got 36% of the vote with the magazine saying-- Players bristle that Guillen is "loud" and "can get under your skin." Says one opponent, "He loses it all the time." Adds another, "He always preaches that he backs his players, but he's been known to throw them under the bus." A rival reliever says, "You can't call your guys out every weekend, and he does that."

Stanton got 28% of the vote with the magazine saying-- "He's a real-life Under Armour mannequin," one major leaguer says, marveling at the 6-foot-5, 248-pound outfielder, a former USC football recruit whose off-season rituals include running the stairs at UCLA's track stadium. "He's not normal, not human." An NL slugger adds, "I don't think he has any body fat."

Stanton maybe respected by many in the baseball community, but he is still being disrespected by many of the fans. Despite statistically being one of the top NL outfielders, he is still not in the top 15 in the all star voting.

Ozzie Guillen also came out on Tuesday that he does not expect to have center fielder Emilo Bonifacio back until after the All-Star break. Bonifacio is a little more optimistic. After having his stitches removed he said he plans to start swinging a bat in 8 days and will be reevaluated in the next two weeks.

After going 1-5 against Tampa Bay and Boston at home in their last six games the team now goes on the road for six games against Tampa Bay and Boston.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneThu, 14 Jun 2012 15:41:39 +0000The Good, Bad, and Ugly from Junehttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/the-good-bad-and-ugly-from-june.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/the-good-bad-and-ugly-from-june.htmlIt has been quite the horrific, record setting June for the Florida Marlins, who at 36-46 are just past the mid point of the season. This past month the Marlins set an MLB record by becoming the fastest team to ever go from 10-games over .500 to 10-games under .300 by setting a team record for the lowest winning percentage going 5-23 (.179). They also suffered through a 1-11 home stand, had a stretch of where they went 1-19, and ended up with the second longest 1-run loss steak in MLB history by losing 14 one run losses. The Marlins also saw three different people manage the team with Edwin Rodriguez resigning before a game in Tampa and 80 years old Jack McKeon being named interim manager for the rest of 2011 the next day. It was also a month that had it best offensive players struggle, and those who were all ready under performing continue with their poor performances from the plate.

The Good:

The Last 5 Games: Going into the last five games of June the Marlins had a record of 2-21 in the month, and had only gone 1-3 under new manager Jack McKeon. However in the last 5 games the Marlins were able to go 3-2 and got back to back wins and their first series win of the month in last two days of June. In the last 5 games the Marlins on the road, against the Mariners (although technically it was a home series) and Athletics, out scored their opponents 13-9 and was lead by some great pitching performances. Florida's starting pitchers gave up only five runs and went 3-1 (2 wins by Chris Volstad) in that five game stretch. Those five games also saw Hanley Ramirez, among other players, started to hit better. In those games Hanley went 6-18 (.333), causing his average to go from .211 to .221, with a home run and five RBI. This may not be all that much, but it is a little hope for the Marlins for the rest of the season.

The News from Dr. Andrews: One of the worst things for sports fans to hear is when their injured superstar is going to go visit Dr. James Andrews. The news is almost never good. A visit to Dr. Andrews usually means that your super star is about to go under a knife and will be out a few months or more. So when Josh Johnson and his injury, which is still kind of a mystery at this point, decided to go visit Dr. Andrews most people were ready to receive some bad news. Luckily their was no new bad news. Josh's lack of strength in his shoulder is just due to tendinitus. While the Marlins continue to struggle with filling in his spot in the rotation until he comes back in July or August, compared to what the news usually is when players go visit Dr. Andrews this is really good news.

The Bad:

Florida Marlins Batting: As individuals the Florida Marlins had some of their worst offensive number of the year. In the past two months the Marlins had been able to stay a float do to some good pitching performances and also the play of Gaby Sanchez, Logan Morrison, Greg Dobbs, Emilio Bonifacio and Mike Stanton from the plate. But in June it all changed. These players saw their numbers drop and no one really stepped up to replace their offensive output. Look at the numbers of the Marlins players from the plate this last month:

Gaby Sanchez hit .240 with 4 home runs, 10 RBI and 19 strikeouts, lowering his average by .028

Logan Morrison hit .200 with 3 home runs, 11 RBI and 19 strikeouts, lowering his average by .054

Mike Stanton hit .247 with 5 home runs, 15 RBI and 34 strikeouts, lowering his average by .005

Greg Dobbs hit .228 with 0 home runs, 1 RBI and 21 strikeouts, lowering his average by .047

Emilio Bonifacio hit .245 with 0 home runs, 4 RBI and 22 strikeouts, lowering his average by .012

Chris Coghlan hit .220 with 1 home run, 2 RBI and 4 strikeouts, lowering his average by .003

John Buck hit .244 with 3 home runs, 10 RBI and 22 strikeouts, raising his average by .013

Omar Infante hit .272 with 0 home runs, 7 RBI and 10 strikeouts, raising his average by .010

Hanley Ramirez hit .260 with 1 home run, 7 RBI and 14 strikeouts, raising his average by .011

Looking over that list you can see that only three of the nine players raised their average during the past month, and only Hanley Ramirez after Jack McKeon took over really made any noticeable positive impact on the games being played. Also none of those three players raised averages even come close in comparison to how much Morrison, Dobbs, and Sanchez's aveages dropped. Looking at how LoMo's and Dobb's aveages dropped .054 and .047 is almost staggering in to do in a month this late in the season. It will take a significant amount of time for Gaby and LoMo to get back to their pre June batting averages and it is very unlikely that Dobbs will ever get back up to his pre June numbers.

The Ugly:

Chris Coghlan: Coghlan had gotten off to a great start this year, and it was such a great story. He was coming back from a knee injury and was in a new position, centerfield, and for the first month he was thriving. Then staring in May his numbers began to decline, his average dropped from .287 to .233. While actually hitting .030 points higher in June than in May, his average still fell another .003 points before the Marlins decided to send him down to the minors. Coghlan hated the idea of moving down, understandably so, but it was the right thing to do for the Marlins. However instead of just going down to New Orleans and trying to re find his swing, Coghlan came clean that his knee had actually been bothering him and he went onto the 15-day DL. Even when Coghlan comes back he will probably play more rehab games than usual to make sure that he finds his swing again, but that may depend on his replacement, Dewayne Wise, who despite starting strong start finished June batting .200.

LOB and RISP- Sure the Marlins had their best players struggle from the plate, and they had some bad starts by their pitchers in June, but if you want to look at the reason the Marlins were only 5-28 in June than look no further than these two stats. In the 28 games in June the Marlins left 197 runners on base, and went 46 for 222 with runners in scoring position. That means the Marlins hit .207 with runners in scoring position and left just over 7 men on base a game. While the amount of men left on base didn't differ to much between wins and losses (7.2 LOB in wins versus 7 LOB in losses), the teams batting average in wins versus losses did have a big disparity. In the five games the Marlins won they hit .326 w/RISP while only hitting .178 in their 23 losses. I really have no words for just how bad that is.

Unfortunately for the Marlins July did not get off to a much better start. In the opening game of a series in Texas the Marlins loss 15-5, and tonight rookie Brad Hand is going to have to face that very potent Rangers lineup. The Marlins do run into some good luck after this series, which sounds odd with Philadelphia coming up. The Marlins get to face Philadelphia, but only have to face one of their big four in Hamles, and get to have Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco pitch against Kyle Kendrick and Vance Worely (who is pitching very well). And then the Marlins get to face the Houston Astros before the All-Star break.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneSat, 02 Jul 2011 16:59:40 +0000News and Notes 6/28http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/news-and-notes-628.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/news-and-notes-628.htmlJosh Johnson- He is set to take a precausionary visit to the infamous Dr. James Andrew on Wednesday, who did Johnson's Tommy John sergery a few years ago. Johnson, who is currently on the 60-day DL and can not come back till July 16 at the earliest, is doing the visit because his shoulder is still not 100%. While Josh Johnson's agent, Matt Sosnick, said that this trip is 'strickly precautionaty' in general it is never a good sign when an athlete goes to see Dr. James Andrews.

Hanley Ramirez- On Jack McKeon's first day on the job he benched, or gave the night off if you believe what the media was told the next day, but since then he has been on one of his hottest streaks of the season. Before McKeon took over Hanley was hitting just .201, but in the six games since he has gone 8-21 (.381) with four RBI and three runs and has raised his batting average to .218. Hopefully this is the beginning of the turnaround for Hanley, who has only spent two days with a batting average above .220 since April 22.

Logan Morrison- LoMo is expected to make a start today (or tomorrow if the game gets rained out), but will be making the start as a DH as opposed to left field. Morrison had been given the previous two games off due to his slump this past month. Like so many other players this month, LoMo has really had his struggles this June. He is batting below .200, only .189, this month and has seen his average drop from .330 on May 27 to it current .264 mark. Marlins hope that Morrison will be able to rebound the same way Hanley has been able to since being benched on Jack McKeon's first game.

How U2 Screwed the Marlins- Okay so we all know that the Marlins had to play their last series in Seattle despite it being a home series for the Marlins. The series had to be moved because of a U2 concert that ws going to be held at Sun Life Stadium...on Wednesday. Apperently the stage for U2's concert is so complex that it takes several days to put together, and thus the Marlins had to have their games moved if the concert was going to happen a few days after. Fast forward to game one of the Oakland series where after raining all day the grounds crew is having a hard time making the field playable, in part due to the fresh dirt that had to be brought in after a U2 concert was held at the Oakland Coliseum

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneWed, 29 Jun 2011 01:42:02 +0000My Thoughts on Hanleyhttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/my-thoughts-on-hanley.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/my-thoughts-on-hanley.htmlOkay so the last few days I have been listening to a lot of sports radio and when ever people talk about the Marlins the issue over Hanley Ramirez come up. People call in and call him lazy, talk about how he seems disengaged from the rest of the team, and they also ask about the possibility of the Marlins trading him. Let me squash this trade thing right now, Hanley is not going to be traded. First of all the Marlins would not get equal value for him at all, and with him being the face of the franchise right now the Marlins are not going to get rid of him right before they move into the new stadium. The Marlins are all in on Hanley Ramirez for now. He was the young player that the Marlins have given a long term deal to, when he was younger the Marlins traded a way Miguel Cabrera in part so that Cabrera's bad habits would not transfer to Hanley, and with the trade of Uggla this offseason the Marlins made it official that Hanley would be the corner stone that they would build around.

The real problem with Hanley is that he is just not a leader and he is on a team where their is no one else is really ready to take that role either. This offseaon all the talk about the Marlins is how Hanley Ramirez was coming into this season in great shape and was ready to have a great shape and take on the leadership role of the team. Well neither of those things have happened, but while Hanley should come back and play like the great player that he is for the remainder of his contract he probably will never be the real leader of this team. Leadership skill can be learned and people can become leaders, but generally in sports you tend to have people that are either natural leaders or they just are not and Hanley isn't.

Logan Morrison tried to show some leadership by getting in Hanley's face Monday about how he arrives much later to the pre-game warm-ups then everyone else on the team. But truth is that LoMo, even if he is one of the future leaders of this team, is only in his second year so you have to wonder just how much of what Morrison says will really have an effect on Hanley. One of the reasons why I think that the Marlins trade of Dan Uggla is one of the worst decisions of the last seven years, along with firing of Joe Girardi, was because Uggla was the one player in the Marlins who was both unafraid to challenge Hanley, but also had enough credibility on the field that Hanley had to respect him. With Uggla gone it means that Hanley is in a locker room with guys like Coghlan, Morrison, Stanton and Sanchez (who are all to young to be significant leaders), Buck, Infante, Dobbs, and Helms (most of who are new to the team, but all are veterans who have never been real leaders on any of their past teams). Really the only players on the Marlins roster who are accomplished and have the longevity to really challenge Hanley in the locker room are Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Anibal Sanchez. But they are all starting pitchers who unlike a Roger Clemens or Curt Shilling, these guys are not outspoken and typically just go about their business quietly.

Some people like to joke about Jack McKeon being 80 years old and coming back to manage one of the youngest teams in MLB, but in a locker room without much leadership Trader Jack might be a good fit. McKeon has never been afraid to get in his players face or to speak his mind. It is very publicly known that he rode Brad Penny very hard in 2003, and while Penny may not have liked it, his dad thanked Jack for doing it after the Marlins won the 2003 World Series. McKeon actually stared this managerial run for the Marlins by benching Hanley. While he now says that he was just giving Ramirez a day off, most believe that the benching was more of a punishment. Either way Hanley responded the next night by going 2-4 with two runs, a stolen base and actually beating out a grounder to shortstop.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneWed, 22 Jun 2011 22:12:45 +0000Edwin Rodriguez Resignshttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/edwin-rodriguez-resigns.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/edwin-rodriguez-resigns.htmlOnly a couple hours before the Marlins were set to play the final game against the Rays in Tampa, which they lost 2-1, news came that Marlins Manager, Edwin Rodriguez, had offered his resignation and Marlins president of baseball operations, Larry Beinfest, had accepted. His resignation comes as the Marlins are in one of the worst losing stretches in the teams history. Including today, which was managed by bench coach Brandon Hyde, the Marlins have lost 10 games in a row, 18 of 19, and 21 of 24. The Marlins have seen their record go from 29-19 to 32-40, the worst Marlins stretch of losses since losing 25 of 29 in 1998. Edwin took over the Marlins managerial job last year after the Marlins fired Fredi Gonzalez and went 46-46 over the remainder of the year, and he finishes his Marlins career with a 78-85 overall record.

In his exit interview Edwin, being the classy guy that he is, thanked the Marlins for his opportunity to manage, and saying that he wishes the players the organization the best on the rest of the season. Larry Beinfest, said that he was taken a little of guard by the sudden resignation, but would latter admit when asked had the team talked about firing Rodriguez, that everything was being discussed. While the Marlins would like to get a new permanent manager into position as soon as possible, with no one specific on the horizons it is believed that the Marlins may give the interim manager job to Jack McKeon, who took over mid season for the Marlins in 2003 before guiding them to a World Series title. McKeon, now 80 years old, has not managed since 2005 and is currently working as a special advisor to Marlins owner Jeffery Loria.

Unfortunately for Edwin his resignation maybe because of all of the losses the Marlins are racking up, but the Marlins poor on the field performance has more to do with the players individual performances than the job he was doing as a manager. Freddi Gonzalez's firing last year you can explain more by what many believed to be him making the wrong decisions down the stretch of games. Edwin on the other hand seemed to have good control over the bullpen and when to pitch hit players, his problem this year was just bad luck an players not playing up to par. Looking over this year, he has had to deal with his Cy Young contending pitcher, Josh Johnson, go to the 60-day DL, his superstar SS, Hanley Ramirez, have his worst series of his career and go to the DL, also DL trips by Logan Morrison and Clay Hensley. Plus the Marlins have had to send Chris Coghlan down to the minors because of poor performance, rotating role players at third base, a disaster of a free agent pick up in Javier Vazquez, and now Mike Stanton needs to see a specialist because of blurry vision in his right eye.

Dealing with all of that Edwin did everything that he could to make the Marlins as competitive as possible. He was not afraid to move players around in the lineup to try and get the most production that he could out of them and he did so with just about every Marlins player batting in a different spot than they did on opening day. Hanley Ramirez batted third, second, first and sixth in the order, Omar Infante was moved form second to eighth, Mike Stanton batted forth, fifth and sixth, and Greg Dobbs went from being a good pitch hitter to batting fifth in the lineup every day at one point. Looking back at all the moves that he had made, including the players he had called up, carrying an extra bullpen pitcher, it is hard to see where Edwin Rodriguez could have done something different that would have made any difference in the Marlins current record.

The Marlins current situation reminds me of Keanu Reeves charactor in The Replacement, Shane Falco, when he spoke in the locker room about quick sand. The Marlins have had one loss after another and now seemingly nothing that they do can pull them out of this tail spin. I have no doubts that it was only a matter of another loss or two that the Marlins would have fired Edwin Rodriguez anyways. Even if he was not the problem the Marlins were going to be forced into a situation were a move was going to have to be made no matter what. Edwin should get another shot at managing in the big leagues some where else, it is just to bad that he is going to leave the Marlins as the scapegoat for this disaster.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneSun, 19 Jun 2011 22:54:25 +0000Coghlan Sent Down and Johnson Throws Bullpen Sessionhttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/coghlan-sent-down-and-johnson-throws-bullpen-session.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/coghlan-sent-down-and-johnson-throws-bullpen-session.htmlSome good news for the first time in a while for Marlins ace Josh Johnson came across the wire today. Josh, who is on the 60-day DL now and is eligible to return on July 16, threw a 20-pitch bullpen session today. For Johnson this was the first time that he had thrown off a mound since going on to the DL. He threw only fastballs and changeups, and while he did not have his normal velocity this was still a very encouraging first big step back to returning to the Marlins rotation. Johnson is scheduled to pitch another bullpen session on Sunday.

As good of news is that was on Josh Johnson, the big news of the day was Edwin Rodriguez's decision to send Chris Coghlan down to Triple-A New Orleans. Edwin, who has coached Coghlan in both the Majors and the Minors said that Chris has just not looked like the same player out there as of late. The 2009 NL Rookie of the Year has seen his batting average drop from .301 on April 25 to only .230 on July 16, and his on base percentage drop from .359 to .296 in that same stretch. While it was a decision that no one in the Marlins Organization took lightly, it may be the best decision for Coghlan. He had been dealing with several injuries this year coming back from left knee injury suffered last season and he has also been getting treatment for a sore right shoulder for the majority of this season. The Marlins had given him days off and saw his numbers continue to fall, and putting him on the bench in favor of Emilio Bonifacio at center would not be good for either Coghlan or the Marlins in the long term. Chris Coghlan is still part of the core that should carry the Marlins over the next few years, so far now he just is going down to the Minors to rediscover his swing.

The Marlins have chosen to bring up Dewayne Wise to replace Coghlan, and he is in the starting lineup Friday night. To free up room on the 40-man roster for Wise the Marlins had to place LHP Dustin Richardson, who the Marlins got in the Andrew Miller trade with the Red Sox this offseason, for assignment. Wise played great for the Marlins during Spring Training, and would have been the Marlins 4th outfielder at the start of the season had he not gotten a bruised left big toe or the Marlins had room for him on their 40-man roster. Wise had been in the Blue Jays Minor league organization till he recently opted out and signed with the Marlins. Wise had actually only played two game in New Orleans before getting this call up. Wise could split time with Emilio Bonifctio in center field while Coghlan finds his swing in New Orleans. If Wise plays well, don't be surprised if Wise stays in the Majors and Cousins gets sent back down when Coghlan is ready to rejoin the Marlins.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneSat, 18 Jun 2011 00:59:41 +0000Marlins Lose Again... And Again... and againhttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/marlins-lose.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/marlins-lose.htmlThe misery that has consumed the Florida Marlins continued this week in Philadelphia with the Phillies four game sweep of the Marlins. All you really need to know about how poorly the Marlins played in the four loses is that they were out scored 25-6 and Javier Vazquez was probably the second best Marlins player in the series after Anibal Sanchez. Anibal let up two runs on four hits and six strikeouts in seven innings, the Marlins were in line for the win until Leo Nunez gave up a two out two run single to Carlos Ruiz in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. Javier Vazquez the next day only pitched five innings but gave up two runs on eight hits, a relatively good day for him, but the Marlins failed him at the plate only getting two hits as Cliff Lee pitched a complete game shut out.

The Marlins six runs scored over the series was a result of their continued struggles with runners on base. Over the course of the four games the Marlins left 22 men on base and went 2-10 with runners in scoring position. Although those struggles really didn't matter in the first two games as the Marlins lost 9-1 and 8-1. In those two games starters Chris Volstad and Elih Villanueva gave up 16 runs, on 15 hits, and seven walks with four strikeouts in 8.2 innings. At this point it is just getting sad for the Marlins. The players are pressing at the plate to try are hit any runner on base home, the amount of games in a row and the poor staring pitching performances are wearing down what was once a good bullpen, and the team as a whole is so desperate for a win that getting over that hump seems like a herculean task.

Just like most of the season the Marlins offense was carries by Logan Morrison and Gaby Sanchez who both hit solo home runs in this series (maybe the best evidence of how much the Marlins are pressing with runners on base is how many of their home runs in this current streak have been solo blasts). In the series Morrison went 4-16 while Sanchez batted 3-13, and those were by far the best on the team. Mike Stanton meanwhile really struggled going 2-15 in the series. At least this weeks were more understandable as the Marlins faced Cole Hamles, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in three of the four game.

The only good news for the Marlins that came in this series was that Hanley Ramirez is back and is now leading off for the Marlins. But of coursein Marlins fashon he did not hit any better than he had before going on the DL, going 1-9 in the Philadelphia series. Also good news for the Marlins is that they have brought Jose Lopez up from the minor leagues. The former Seattle Mariners starter will give the Marlins another option at third base, a decent option off the bench, and a fill in middle infielder who can give Edwin Rodriguez the option to give some players a night off. Of course both those pieces of news are off set by the news that Josh Johnson will be out for at least another month of action.

Seeing how the Marlins played in this series I can't stop thinking about how in the post after the first series against the Phillies I had warned that the rained out game maybe be a bad for the Marlins. That turned out to be very true as the Marlins were playing well then and the Phillies were still without several top players, and going into this week it was just about the complete opposite if that. Now the Marlins who are 1-15 in their last 16 and 3-18 in thier last 21 games gets to face their in state rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, for a three game weekend series.

Friday in Tampa at 7:10-- Bard Hand vs. Wade Davis

Saturday in Tampa at 7:10-- Ricky Nolasco vs. Alex Cobb

Sunday in Tampa at 1:40-- Chris Volstad vs. James Sheilds

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneThu, 16 Jun 2011 19:56:07 +0000What is Wrong With the Florida Marlins?http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/what-is-wrong-with-the-florida-marlins.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/what-is-wrong-with-the-florida-marlins.htmlIf it is not one thing it is another for the Marlins the past three weeks. The Marlins dropped three of four to the Diamondbacks this weekend and have lost 14 of their last 17 games. Thanks to a 1-10 home stand the Marlins have dropped a game under .500 going into a four game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, which they dropped the first game 9-1. So what happened? What caused the Marlins to go from having the second best record in the NL to now being below .500?

Most people would probably point out that the Marlins have had their two superstars, Josh Johnson and Hanley Ramirez, go on the DL during this stretch, and the Marlins have also the two cornerstones of their bullpen, Clay Hensely and Leo Nunez, get banged up as well. While those are obvious reason, they are really just the surface problems that the Marlins have. The real major issues are that this team just can not score runners when men are on base. In the Marlins 11 game home stand they went 22-93 with runners in scoring position (10 of those hits came on the last game of the series) and left 102 men on base. During that same time the Marlins gave up on average five runs per game while only scoring three and a half. The problem is now such that when a Marlins player, whoever he is, comes to the plate he is pressing to try and get that runner in, but when you press like that it tends to lead to more outs. The Marlins poor situational caused them to fire their hitting coach and hire Eduardo Perez to replace him. While this may end up being a good move, it is doubtful any meaningful results will be seen in the next week or so.

The other issues happened to be that earlier in the year the Marlins were winning despite some major issues. Early this season the Marlins were winning despite Mike Stanton, Omar Infante, John Buck, and Hanley Ramirez all getting off to bad starts from the plate, and Javier Vazquez was an automatic loss from the mound. The Marlins were able to luck out in that Gaby Sanchez, Logan Morrison, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Anibal Sanchez all played like All-Stars for the first month and a half of the season, and despite some poor stretches the bullpen was one of the best in baseball. While most people knew that the numbers these guys were putting up would at some point dip a bit, it was thought that it should even out with the other Marlins players raising their performances. Unfortunately, outside of Mike Stanton, that has not really been the case. Chris Coghlan and Omar Infante were expected to bat in the one and two spots this year because of their ability to get on base and hit for average, but at this point they are hitting .235 and .258 respectively. Hanley Ramirez was never able to get out of his early season slump before going to the DL, John Buck is batting .230, Javier Vazquez except for two starts has been disastrous, and Chris Volstad seems to alternate between good and poor performances.

The Marlins also got news today that Josh Johnson really may not be back in the starting rotation for another month. This calamity of problems the Marlins are facing it is going to be interesting to see how they are going to respond as the chips seem pretty stacked against them. Even when the Marlins finish their current series against the Phillies, they still face, Tampa Bay, Los Angles Angles, Seattle, Oakland, Texas and the Phillies again before they get to face an easy opponent in the Houston Astros on July 7, and during that stretch they get a total of two days off.

Maybe the biggest question they face going forward is what to do with Javier Vazquez. The Marlins signed him to a one year seven million dollar deal be the number three/four starter on this team and it has not worked out (putting it lightly). Unfortunately currently their is nothing that the Marlins can really do. With Josh Johnson on the DL and Sean West and Alex Sanabia getting over injuries of their own, the Marlins are being forced to use minor league pitchers who other wise might be a year or so away from being really ready for a major league start. I was on the side that said that thought Marlins fans were crazy for wanting to send him down to the minors earlier this season, but after 13 starts, only three of which were quality starts, and an ERA that at its lowest point was 6.02 but currently is 7.09, I have flipped sides. I now think that as soon as Josh Johnson gets off the DL and either Sanabia or West is healthy enough you bring one of those two pitchers up. First off they can not do any worse that Javy is doing right now, and even if they are not doing that much better you can still prepare one of them to be a fifth starter in 2012.

However, even though as I writing this it looks as though the Marlins are about to go three games under .500, all should not be considered lost. Yes the Marlins are in the same division as arguably the two best teams in the NL, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, their is some hope for them. The NL has for the past several years always had one team that was teetering on the verge of not in contention at the middle of the season storm back with a great second half and either just miss or in some cases do actually get into the playoffs. During this stretch of losing the Marlins still have Gaby Sanchez playing as one of the best statistical first basemen in the NL (Go to Vote For Gaby to see the comparison), Ricky Nolasoco and Anibal Sanchez who are still having very good years despite some resent horrifying starts, and the bullpen is nothing close to as bad as they were in 2010. If the Marlins could just get players like Coghlan, Infante, and Ramirez to play close to their averages for the rest of the season, then the Marlins could still turn this season around and content.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneTue, 14 Jun 2011 17:39:00 +0000Marlins New and Notes 6/13http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/marlins-new-and-notes-613.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/marlins-new-and-notes-613.htmlHanley Ramirez-- Hanley says that he is healthy and ready to get back on the field with the Marlins. In two rehab games with the Jupiter Hammerheads, Hanley went 5-8 from the plate. Hnley spent Sunday working out, and would work out with the Marlins on Monday. Manager Edwin Rodirguez says that everything is set for hit to make the trip with the team and get the start with the team on Tuesday. It has not been confirmed, but their is a chance that he could come back and hit lead off for the Marlins, he has alread hit in the two and three spots this year.

Josh Johnson-- Their is still no word that on when he will return, and some believe that he may be out till after July 1, or possibly the All-Star Game. He is expected to start throwing at 200ft, possibly today, and could be throwing off of a mound as soon as this week. Johnson went on the DL with right shoulder inflamation, which has cleared up, and now it is just a matter of building up arm strength and getting Johnson to feel confertable.

Leo Nunez-- Leo has not pitched since June 5 due to back stiffness, however he could be back soon. Their is a chance that he could pitch as soon as Monday, but it is more than likely that he will return Tuesday in Philadelphia.

The Marlins are looking to bring up a pitcher from the minors to pitch on of the games on Wendsday as they have a double header aginst the Phillies due to a rain out earlier this year. The Marlins are again looking to choice from Chris Sampson, Tom Koehler, and Elih Villanueva, the three pitchers who lost out replacing Josh Johnson's pitching spot when the Marlins choose Brad Hand. Sampson is the only one with real Major league experience, but unless he is scratched from his start on Monday night you can rule him out for starting on Wedneday. I'll give the slight edge to Koehler as he has the slightly better numbers on the year, but it Villanueva would be on a more normal rest.

MINOR LEAGUE UPDATES

Matt Dominguez-- After getting hurt in the first game of the year, Matt Dominguez has worked his way back up to Triple-A New Orleans where in 22 games he is hitting .256 with four home runs and 20 RBI. While it is good to see that he is back to normal, the Marlins still need to see progress from him at the plate. If you total all of his at bats this year he is 25 for 111 (.225) with seven extra base hits and 22 strikeouts.

Sean West-- After missing almost a month and a half due to injury, West has now made five consecutive starts. Unfortuently it has been a realtivly bumby road for West thus far. In his first four starts he never pitched more than 5 innings and had an ERA of 16.20, his last one was a little bit better going six innings giving up four runs.

]]>bcastaldo2000@gmail.com (BC Castaldo)JuneMon, 13 Jun 2011 16:01:18 +0000Pros and Cons of Possible Baseball Realignmenthttp://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/possible-baseball-realignment.html
http://marlinsbigcatch.com/2011-articles/june/possible-baseball-realignment.htmlNews broke yesterday that their are discussions among the players union and the owners that baseball may switch to two 15 team leagues with the top five teams in each league advancing to the playoffs. This means that baseball would have one of the National League teams switch over to the American League, it would get rid of the divisions, and add another round to the playoffs. As of right now the chances of this actually happening is under 50-50, but it is still in the early in the negotiating period for the new collective bargaining agreement. As of right now the team that would be most likely be moved to the AL from the NL is the Houston Astros, who will automatically have a natural rival in the Texas Rangers. Although the current ownership says that they have no interest in changing leagues, the team is up for sale and MLB could make the switch of leagues a part of the sale. As with any big change it comes with several pros and cons.

PROS

Being a Marlins and Orioles fan this switch really helps these teams who have to play perennial big market powers. It has always been seen as a disadvantage to teams in the AL East to have to play both the Yankees and Red Sox 18 times each, while in the AL West and Central are filled with mid sized markets who tend to have quite a bit more turnover in the divisions. Instead with the elimination of divisions the games played becomes evenly distributed among all of the teams in the league.

An addition of another playoff round. With the top five teams, as opposed to the current four team, now going to the playoff it means that means that teams #4 and #5 will play each other in the opening round and the winner will go on to play #1.

This also means that teams with who win weak divisions will not be able to sneak into playoffs. In the past, their have been teams who are barley over .500 who have been able to get into the playoffs because they play in a horrible division. Now with it being a one giant league it will make sure that only the teams with the top five records would be able to advance.

Interleague play is going to happen through out the year. Baseball is set up right now with 16 teams in the NL and 14 teams in the AL so that their will be even match-ups with no team getting an equivalent of a bye week. So to eliminate this problem with a two 15 team leagues baseball will expand Interleague play to happen all year long.

CONS

Reduced drama at the end of the year. Part of the fun at the end of the season are all of the division races and wild card races that take place. This year their is a chance that three of the best teams in the AL could be the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays and they will be fighting for both the division title and the wild card. However in the new system these teams could be pretty set to make the playoffs and not have to much to worry about come the end of the year.

Not a fan of the new playoff format. It is just a really funky way to go threw the playoffs. It makes more sense to either stay with a four team playoff system with every team playing in the first round, or a six team playoff system with the top two teams getting a bye in the first round.

Interleague play is going throughout the year. Some people hate interleage play, and if you are one of those people than the idea of it happening all year long has to be torturous.

With no more weighted schedule also comes the chance that it will also mean increase travel. For the Marlins, most of their travel is up and down the East Coast and are less than three hour flights. However with less games in Atlanta and Washington it will mean more games in Milwaukee and San Diego. One of the way baseball would probably do to deal with this is have longer road trips and home stands, maybe three to five series per stand. Some people may have a problem with this, especially those who already complain that their are not enough rest days off.

Personally I think that I am in favor of this change. Baseball rarely does anything to radical, and they are all but afraid of change, so the idea of this possibility is excited. This change is also a positive one, potentially, for the Marlins. The Marlins on any given year can get 82-87 wins playing a bunch of games against good Braves and Phillies teams, and have two World Series Championships despite no division titles. If the Marlins play the Braves and Phillies only 12 times a year, down from 18, that could also mean that they get to play more games against teams like the Padres and Pirates. With more games against lower talent teams and an additional playoff team it should mean more playoff opportunities for the Marlins.